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169 out of 183 people found the following comment useful :- Lilja 4-ever is as good as it gets, 5 February 2003 Author: Josef Lundström (nyongo@bredband.net) from Umeå, Sweden
It is not often that everyone is quiet after a movie at the cinema. Some were crying, others did not know how to act, ending up staring out in to the emptiness. For me, nothing was the same after I did leave the cinema. I know that it sounds like a cliché, but I tell you, it is not. Some of these people were laughing before they sat down, but the haunting beginning of the movie did wake everyone up. Every day you do wake up, when you are working you do hurry away; maybe you take your children with you to leave them at the nearby kindergarten. If it is a holiday, maybe you are of to meet some friends. In the evening you come home, you are cooking and eating. Maybe you do sit down with your wife and kids watching a good TV-show. When the night comes, you are wishing your child's a good night's sleep before you go to bed. It is not easy for you to know what is going on inside the apartment of your neighbour. The time that pass from the beginning to the end is the time the director Lukas Moodysson have to convince you that the reality is not as good as you may think, or maybe you already know, all to well.The reality of leading character Lilja becomes slowly a part of your reality. You can choose to see Lilja in two different points of view. You can see her as a part of a fairly tale, and nothing more, than her life story will disappear after the movie in your shower. Or you may see her as she is; a picture of what life can do with people who are not as lucky as you, a picture of other girls in the same situation as she. The great acting of the 15 year old Russian actress Oksana Akinsjina makes it possible. I did almost forget that she is not Lilja when I did see the movie, it is heartbreaking when she is crying, and when she is happy her smile is the most wonderful you have seen that day. But a few minutes later you may see pain in her eyes. If you are thinking about what is happing in the movie, you will understand her reactions. When it is painful then she cries without hope, when it is too painful she doesn't seems to react at all (exactly like you!) and you don't need to imagine to feel the pain she have inside.The one that will become more close to her than anyone else is the street kid and male leading character Volodja act by the 12 year old Artiom Bogutjarskij (his first movie). I have worked with street children and his acting is very authentic. When everything falls apart for Lilja, Volodja becomes her last hope, he is never leaving her in her mind he is always close. He is the one who is always there, the one that catches her when she falls. Lukas said in an interview that Volodja are a shape of Jesus in the end you will understand. These parts are telling about the dreams of Lilja, whom makes it easier to understand her vision of hope. Lukas is the best Swedish director now and maybe of all time. The integrity of his actors is intact, that he manages to do it in a movie like this shows how good as a director he is. He has a moving respect for Oksana and the way he cares about her integrity is the thing that makes this movie worth looking. His manuscript is trustworthy and don't have any illogical lacks. Nothing is darker than it could be in the reality. All characters are three dimensional and even the evil characters are human, even the victims are not just victims.You may wonder if the reality is this dark. In a article in a Swedish newspaper Lukas Moodyson told that he had spoken with a social worker and he was told that some mothers do sell their own kids for 1 £ to the sex industry. Though the movie is fictional and not about her, many of the memorable things that are happening to Lilja in the movie did happen to Dangoule Rasalaite from Latvia between the 17th September 1999 and the 10th January 2000. Lukas read about her in an article. The reality is always worse than the fiction.The young actors do carry the weight of the movie with grace. Their acting against each other is moving, it is a special chemistry between them. Lukas has the gift of finding the right persons for the characters in all is movies, and Lilja 4-ever is not an exception. Last Monday Lilja forever won 5 out of 6 gold beagles (the most important Swedish film award) it was nominated to (Artiom was also nominated for best performance by an actor). The awards it won were for best movie, best picture, best manuscript, best direction, and the most important of them all, best performance by an actress. Trafficking is the third biggest illegal industry in the world; it makes this movie so important. Lukas Moodysson and Oksana did manage to wake up this nation, to show that our reality is not as good as we thought. We can see it in the reactions of the cinema public, how people are talking about it afterwards, and in the newspapers. The Swedish government are working for the possibility to show this movie in schools all over the former Sovjet Union. Lukas has said that if this movie can convince one girl to make other decisions than Lilja and to many other young girls; this movie was worth making.This movie is worth more than all the awards it has won and all the awards it will win. This movie can change your point of view, it is that message of hope it brings./Josef Lundström
125 out of 135 people found the following comment useful :- It is a lot more than a film concerning human traffic, 10 October 2004 Author: Boyan Kelchev (kelchev.boyan@gmail.com) from Pazardzhik, Bulgaria
I like films that make one think. They don't answer one's questions, but rather help one find the answers for oneself. Such films are so valuable because they explore the human mind and personality. Everyone has been involved in situations when one needs to know what the person in front of him or her is thinking. Lilja 4-ever is a film that leads us in the dark world of a beautiful girl who has not yet grown enough to face the hardships of life, let alone the hardships of life in a place like that she lives in. Although the film is much acclaimed because it raises the problem of human traffic, it achieves much more than that. It raises the problems of human selfishness, betrayal, dignity, hopelessness, lie. It explores love and friendship. It conveys a simple but incredibly important message - we are those who are responsible.What fascinates me about European cinema is that it explores in great depth the human personality. Lilja 4-ever employs an ordinary script and is directed in a way that ,at the time of watching, one does not, at all, think about the director's work. Thus, one can concentrate entirely on the plot, on the development of the characters and their stories. For that, I congratulate Lukas Moodysson.Critics acclaim the film because it concerns the problem of human traffic. However, much of the film focuses on Lilja's life before she is forced into prostitution. During that time, Moodysson carefully explains why many people end up leading such terrible lives. She is an innocent girl who knows almost nothing about life. In an unbelievably short period of time she is abandoned by her mother, thrown out by her aunt, betrayed by her friends, cynically humiliated by her teacher. The only hope she has is her dream that one day she would be able to go to a beautiful country where she would meet hospitable people and have many opportunities. She is striving for happiness and tries to find it anywhere she can. Unfortunately, the only people who offer their help are little Volodja and a deceitful man. Volodja is the little boy who finds the angel inside Lilja. Ironically, the only person who truly likes and wants to help her is incapable of doing so. His life is as miserable as hers.Lilja is abandoned, left to starve, raped, forced into prostitution, and yet not one of these moments disturbed me as much as the smile on her face when she is lied by a person in whom she sees hope and salvation. In my opinion, that is the single strongest and most substantial moment in the whole film.Lilja 4-ever is a masterpiece in its own way. It changes perspectives ... It manages to explain how innocent and pure a prostitute's mind can be. How many of us relate words such as pure and innocent to prostitution? It urges us to be concerned, to feel responsible, and to believe in the importance of GOOD ...
98 out of 113 people found the following comment useful :- compelling Swedish drama, 5 December 2004 Author: mfridell from Oregon, USA
Lilja 4-ever is an excellently-crafted film created by and for Swedes to help stimulate public debate and redress the issue of the vulnerability of immigrant children. It's a cruel, enlightening, compelling watch for anyone in the West, but it's most definitely not a movie for escapism, it's not an After School Special, and it's a world away from the endless contemporary assault/insult of bald neocon propaganda on Anglo-American screens.Unless you're very, very dead inside, Lilja 4-ever will horrify you, move you to tears, and leave you speechless...at least in its immediate aftermath. And if you are dead inside, the implicit subject is inexorable capitalist alienation and trauma, so why not catch a representation of your own inner life on film? Maybe you can work it into a drinking game.Based on actual, turn-of-the-21st-century suicides of escaped post-Soviet child prostitutes in the suburbs of Sweden, Lilja 4-ever is a well-done drama, featuring terrific acting--especially by Oksana Akinshina and Artyom Bogucharsky. It presents moody and stark cinematography, fine script-writing, and solid direction. Lilja 4-ever is not a documentary, but its subject is relentlessly grim and real: the tragic personal results of the continued, desperate corrosion of Eastern European society and its tacit, rapaciously opportunistic exploitation in the isolated, commuter highway-bound suburbs of the West. For its success in making these links visible and cinematic, Lilja 4-ever is outstanding.I saw Lilja 4-ever when it was released in Stockholm in 2002. You can't watch this particular movie waiting for some good one-liners to repeat to the guys around the water cooler. You may not be able to identify with Lilja. You don't need to feel like she could be your girlfriend. For this movie to work, and to grasp who Lilja is, you need to be able to feel human compassion, sympathy and empathy, and to recognize and appreciate the drama in our socio-economic connections.
81 out of 91 people found the following comment useful :- Adorable film, but terribly sad.., 1 May 2003 Author: Exiled_Archangel from Istanbul, Turkey
I wasn't surprised by how perfect this film is from the first second to the last, since it's directed by Lukas Moodysson. Different than Tillsammans and Fuckin Åmål in style, but still absolutely fascinating. I could find only one minor flaw, which is Lilya's make-up after the fall. But everything else was wonderful. I hadn't heard of Oksana Akinshina before, but I have a strong feeling I will in the near future. She's really good. I was also amazed by the acting of the little boy.The frames come so strong that you start to empathize with Lilya after some point. By the end of the film, I was feeling like she was my sister and I wanted to knock those procurers' heads off. I've heard the plot is based on a true story of a Lithuanian girl. I think it's not based on one single true story, it's rather a blend of several true stories. There are many Lilyas, Natalias, Annas out there who are suffering a similar fate. It's so very sad to see how those innocent girls grow into prostitutes just because they're born in some particular country.Anyone with a heart will be touched and anyone with a taste on movies will be stunned by this movie. I'll buy the DVD as soon as it's available. It's a must have for any collection. One of the rare films I would watch more than once. Total 10.
73 out of 85 people found the following comment useful :- Angels, 8 May 2003 Author: jotix100 from New York
Director Lukas Moodysson has achieved a film that is so moving that it is hard to forget it after leaving the theater. Images come back into one's mind about this story about this girl. The tragedy of her life is something to be shocked and alarmed.To think there are out there, in the so-called civilized world, people that take advantage of girls like Lilja is mind boggling. Lilja's mother has to be one of the worst monsters ever presented in a film. This woman abandons her 16 year old daughter because she has found a meal ticket with a man that will probably end up leaving her as well.Lilja is beautifully portrayed by Oksana Akinshina. The actress and her character disappear in front of your eyes. The story is very true as thousands of naive girls are exported from what it was the old Soviet Union to other countries in order to force them into prostitution. This story is constantly in the news, yet more and more young girls are duped into going abroad with the promise of highly paid jobs that exist only for the people who exploit them.Her only friend is Volodya, also a very sad boy who is thrown out of his own house by an abusive father. Volodya and Lilja form a bond as they cling to one another. The little boy is street wise; he knows the fate that awaits Lilja in Sweden. Their friendship is the only thing they both have.The sad part of the film is the realization that so called "normal" and perfectly "respectful" people are the same ones that brutalize these children. They use Lilja to satisfy their sexual appetites, then discard her like yesterday's trash. To know that there are people like that in our society is a very sad commentary about our world.Contrary to what many people have commented about the film, I thought that in spite of the tragedy of Lilja's and Volodya's lives, it had a very positive ending because both are free to run around in a better place together, which is not a luxury most of us have on our time in this planet.Mr. Moodysson gives us a film that will shock; he dares to go where others wouldn't. A job well done..
62 out of 70 people found the following comment useful :- Realistic To The Core, 4 November 2004 Author: Killa_Cam from Saint Petersburg, Russia
The movie is extremely sad & hard to watch, cause of its unbelievably realistic picture of poverty, humiliation & depression in which the vast majority of people in the former USSR republics live, including here in Russia. The minority of those who have still managed to keep being human beings in this mess is surrounded & slowly devastated by demoralised animals, created by the decades of communist reign. The realism of the picture is overwhelming & scary. It is so unexpected that a Swedish director have managed to see all the sadness, corruption, violence & immorality of post-USSR space much more clearly than any Russian director ever will. Probably, it is because most people here in Russia see the hell which is going on around them as a normal thing. That's why we need movies such as this - to face the truth, we are so trying to escape in everyday life. Plus, the film exposes the problem of human traffic in such true-to-life manner, it is painful. Worth watching for former USSR citizens, in order to wake-up & realize how degenerate they're becoming. Worth watching for foreigners in order to understand how the 99% of people in Russia & other post-soviet countries live, outside the glamorous & fake facades of Moscow city.
39 out of 40 people found the following comment useful :- Deeply moving, effective and sharp, 22 October 2004 Author: skoo79 from Singapore
The film is rather conventional, maybe clichéd to some people, in terms of storyline, but by no means any less effective about reaching out to audiences what the director wants to tell. There is a marked distinction between prostitution and child/adult sex slavery. The former is a transaction between 2 consenting parties who understand the implication of the deal (what is known as the world's oldest trade), while the latter is a crime of utmost human grothesqueness. It is almost in total contradiction to the thought that modern world has achieved civilised behaviour.The film portrays this to a very effective end. Kudos to the lead actress who brings out the desperation and tragedy of the Lilja's life with such depth. There were indeed many memorable scenes, 2 which affected me deeply were: when Viktor methodically asked Lilja for her fake passport; and when Lilja was raped in the bathroom by Viktor the very next morning. Contrast this to the optimism and happiness she felt in the Duty-Free area in the airport (no means by a shopaholic) and just when she woke up in the apartment in Sweden (although it was as about as dreary as her home in Estonia). The methodical way Viktor asked for Lilja's passport is astounding. Lilja's obviously not his first prostitute and definitely not his last; Viktor is also one of the many pimps who participates actively in this form of slavery. It is unimaginable the magnitude of this crime.The music, as well as the way the camera was handled added very much more to the film. In the opening, the music came on so loud and the camera so shaky, you almost know the film would be unbearably painful (in more ways than one).Powerful as the film is, there are some parts which are admittedly over the top. Having Lilja and Volodya play ball with wings on the roof top is quite whimsical actually. But all said, this was definitely a film worth watching.
44 out of 54 people found the following comment useful :- Human Betrayed and Sold, 19 February 2005 Author: martin_g_karlsson from Sweden
This is about the buying and selling of human beings. Lilja is in a hopeless situation, she is betrayed and then sold. The men who sell and buy her are not concerned with who she is, or why she is there. They don't want to know. They do their business and don't ask questions.There is not much doubt this could be a true story. Moodysson wrote the script after reading about a young girl, an eastern European refugee, under strange circumstances throwing herself off a bridge in Malmö. "Sex slavery", trafficking, is out of sight, out of mind for most of us, but is still very much in effect. And most of the people on the planet live very hard lives. The buying and selling of people is something that we all live with. We all sell ourselves to anonymous corporations, we have to do it, it is in the fabric of our societies. Liljas sale is on another scale of exploitation, of course, but it is also an extreme of what capitalism effectively means. Everything is a commodity.The movie tells the story of of a young girls destruction by brutal socioeconomic and individual forces, both objectively and subjectively. While there is no big drama, the story is told from the perspective of Lilja. There are a few weaknesses, the portrayal of Lilja starts with things going bad, and then they turn even worse. We don't get to know Lilja outside of hardships, which probably enables us to differentiate ourselves from her. Also its a bit over-explicit in the depiction of the adult betrayal of Lilja. What if, for example, Liljas mother hadn't disappeared, the way she does in the movie, would that make the story much less tragic?Otherwise, its a film that people "should see", there should be a 100 of these kind of movies made for every new, strained, meaningless, "J.Lo is pretty and wants romance" or "Arnie is strong, rightfully angry and wants to kill somebody", film. Instead of the other way around, the way it is today.
39 out of 48 people found the following comment useful :- A sad familiar story, 16 October 2004 Author: rbverhoef (rbverhoef@hotmail.com) from The Hague, Netherlands
During this movie I felt more and more sorry for Lilja (Oksana Akinshina), a girl from the former Soviet Union. As the viewer you know what will happen with the poor girl because it seems so logical, but from her point of view it is just a great opportunity that turns out to be something completely different. First her mother leaves her to go to America with a new husband. Lilja thinks she will travel after her mother some time later, but that is not going to happen. Her only friend is Volodya (Artyom Bogucharsky), a young boy she hangs out with.Then she meets a boy who says he likes her. He invites her to come to Sweden with him, start a life together. She has to go first, he will travel after her, again, some time later. Volodya does not agree with it, but she goes anyway. Arriving in Sweden she is picked up by an older man, put in an apartment locked from the outside, and we understand that the boy will not travel after her. The next day the man brings Lilja another man; she must have sex with him. Finally it is clear for her, sort of, as it was for us all along.I guess there are thousands and thousands of stories like this and realizing that Lilja's story is even more sad. The way certain people use unhappiness of others is terrible and 'Lilja 4-ever' shows us in a realistic way how easy it basically is. If you are as unhappy as Lilja every opportunity seems fantastic.There are two scenes that you will remember. The first shows us Lilja's face when the men are on top of her. She just lies there, helpless, without any reason to live. The second shows us the faces of the men that are on top of her. This montage lets us see the ugliness of those people, what kind of animals the world knows. 'Lilja 4-ever' is a sad movie, but a good movie. Although we probably know that things like this happen, it is not bad to realize that from time to time. 'Fucking Åmål' director Lukas Moodysson makes sure we do that with his movie.
42 out of 56 people found the following comment useful :- LILJA 4-EVER (DIDIER BECU), 29 February 2004 Author: Didier (Didier-Becu) from Gent, Belgium
Will Lukas Moodyson be the Andy Warhol of cinematography? It seems like he's on its way to achieve it as film after film Moodyson seems to find a subject that is shocking but stays a part of the society we cann't deny. "Lilja 4-ever" puts us back in some godforgotten village that used to be the powerful USSR. A place at where nothing really happens and where the youth just has to face violence and drugs (cheap medicine like syrup against coughing). Lilja is left alone by her mother who immigrates to the US and how much she defends, Lilja ends up as a childwhore. The movie is hard (the first seconds of the movie with Rammstein's "Mein herz brennt" already is unforgettable) and Moodyson does nothing special to shock his audience...the facts are just there and you can do with it what you want. A masterpiece.
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